No Moving Trains
by OsakaBomb
Summary: Suri explores one of the Capital Wasteland's metro tunnels. The story's full title is actually "No Moving Trains  The Tunnels Are All Muddied with a Thousand Lonely Suicides "


The metal gate creaked harshly as Suri pried them it open, parting them to either side of her. The sound made her ears cringe before meeting the usual silence once again. Dust drifted slowly as she peered down the darkened path leading into the metro tunnel. Down at the end of the path, towards the entrance to the main area, she saw the flickering light of a Nuka-Cola machine. The moment she saw it, she licked her lips.

She had used her last bottle of water more than a few hours ago. She'd have preferred to have found more of that, but Nuka-Cola would do for right now. She made her way to the vending machine, carefully checking the open area beyond for any signs of movement. There was no telling who might be waiting down here. She opened up the vending machine and looked inside. It was mostly empty, but there were four bottles sitting inside.

Suri took as many she was able to carry. She managed to it two bottles in the side pockets of her long coat. She took out the third, one she planned to drink right away. She looked at the fourth bottle, sitting alone inside of the machine. Looking over her coat, she realized she had no place to put it. She sighed. She would just have to leave it for now. She popped the cap off the one in her hand and took a long drink, finishing it fairly quickly, but all the while savoring the crisp flavor. She set the empty bottle down upright on the stone floor and stashed the cap in one of her pockets.

She continued further down into the tunnel, heading into the open area it lead to. This part of the metro station was made up of two floors. The upper floor looked like a sort of waiting area. Benches were lined upon either side of the floor and a small ticket kiosk stood empty between them.

Suri walked past them, moving to the staircase that lead down to the lover level of the station. She looked over the edge of the railing. Below her were the main tunnels of this station, now filled with rubble and the ruins of old metro cars. Suri made her way slowly down the steps.

When she reached the bottom, she found that all the tunnels were blocked with the debris and old, metal giants. She walked over to one of the tunnels on the right side of the lower level. Inside it was a single metro car, resting against the debris at a slanted angle. Suri looked up inside the car. The path through the inside looked clear. She could most likely climb through and make to the other side of the tunnel.

She took the first step, moving inside of the car. It wasn't a difficult climb, but the uphill angle she was walking was making her legs feel tired a lot quicker. She boosted herself along the way by grabbing onto the various poles and seats that lined the car. She was about a quarter of the way up the car when she spotted something sitting on one of the seat. There, abandoned, was a bag. A leather satchel, light brown in color. Suri eyed for a few seconds before carefully reaching out and grabbing it. She rested on one of the seats and opened it up. There wasn't much inside, except for an empty salisbury steak container. The bag itself looked like it could carry a good amount of things. She took the bag and slung it over her shoulder. She removed the empty container in the bag and set it down on the seat.

Suri braced her foot on the seat and boosted herself up. As she did, her foot nudged the container she left on the seat and knocked it over. It fell down the remaining distance, clattering loudly. Suri stood still, watching it fall. Silence followed, only for a few seconds. As she was about to keep moving, a sudden sound, so shrill, came storming through the tunnels. A wild howl, one that made Suri's skin crawl instantly. Not of the fact that it sounded like an animal. But the fact that it sounded vaguely human.

At the opening at the bottom of the car, following several running footsteps, several figures appeared. They looked up at Suri with crazed, hollow, white eyes. They wore only shredded remnants of clothing, their skin was thin on their bones and was in various tins of orange, green and gray. One of them howled again at the sight of her and started clawing their way up the seats at her.

Suri didn't hesitate. She turned, moving quickly up the rest of the car. But they were coming closer. As they did, she gained a better sense of the number. There seemed to be about four. Suri suddenly jerked to a stop as one of them grabbed ahold of her ankle. It was starting to pull her down. As she started to losing her grip on the seat above her, Suri raised her unhindered foot and kicked downward. She felt it connect with the creature, but she wasn't sure where. As she continued climbing, she heard hit several bars and seats on the way down and land with a fatal-sounding snap. That left three.

She finally reached the top of the car and made it out of the opening on the top side. She swiftly moved down the debris pile to the bottom floor. She found herself in a dark, endless portion of the tunnel. She quickly turned on the light of her Pip-Boy to see. She turned around to face the car, drawing her hunting rifle.

She quickly knelt down and aimed. The remaining three creatures were making their way out of the opening. She fired at the group and managed to hit on. Nowhere fatal, just on the arm, but it was enough to send it tumbling out of the top of the car where it soon hit the ground and stopped moving. The remaining two were coming closer now, so she quickly turned and ran.

Suri ran through the dark tunnel, only able to see ahead of her. She could hear them screeching and howling in the dark behind her. She could only barely guess how close they were based on the relative sounds. She wasn't sure how close they were, but they were closer than she would want them. She turned with the rifle in hand, starting to run backwards. She fired blindly into the dark. She missed most shots, but she heard one come in contact. Despite the hit, it sounded as though there were still two gaining on her quickly. She had to wait until she could actually see them. She ran faster, going until her chest was burning.

As Suri ran, her eyes slowly adjusted to the dark of the tunnel, now able to see things not illuminated by the Pip-Boy's light. The shapes were vague, but it gave her a better sense of the place. Just as she felt she was about to collapse, she saw a minor change in the light. She could just barely make out the next metro station platform. She was graced with a second wind and picked up her pace.

That was when she felt the sudden weight on her back. She immediately fell to the ground, landing on her side. One of them was on top of her. From here, she could smell its breath. It was rancid, like a pile of corpses rotting in the sun. The feel of its skin against hers caused Suri to tense. It was clammy and wet, and she could feel the bones underneath the loose skin. It's face shined in the Pip-Boy light, revealing its featureless face. She saw that everything about it was gone. It had no nose, no eyelids, and no lips. Just a bare and menacing row of teeth permanently grinning at her. A sight that would appear in Suri's dreams for several nights to come.

A scream was caught in her throat. She was frozen. It moved to bite at her face, but she managed to throw it off of her. As it flew back, its grown out nails delivered a painful scratch along her forearm. Suri kicked her foot out, hitting it in the head. She felt it give under the weight of her boot and its screeching ceased. She was up on her feet immediately running for the metro station once again. She felt relieved when she reached the opening and could finally see. The creature was climbing up off the tracks. Suri wasted no time and begin firing her rifle. She missed the first two shots. The third did the creature in. It was hit in the chest, and with a choked grunt, it fell back down onto the tracks. Suri stopped. It was over. In an instant, she dropped her rifle to the ground and fell down into a sitting position, exhausted. Her mind was reeling. She had seen many strange things in the wasteland, but nothing quite like those. She tried to wrap her mind around the whole thing, but she couldn't. They were clearly human. Or, at least, they were. But something changed them. Made them nothing more than human-like animals. Perhaps the Overseer was more right for not letting anyone leave the vault than she thought.

Suri stood up on shaking legs, with her rifle in hand. She slung it onto her back and turned off the light of her Pip-Boy. This place was just as dark, but there seemed to be enough natural light that she didn't need hers anymore. She looked at her surroundings. The set-up of this platform was a little different. The upper floor was built near the far left side of the platform, with the stairs leading up into the middle of it. She walked carefully over to it, to avoid making any more loud noise and the fact that her legs were still shaking lightly, and made her way up the stairs, looking around for any more of those things. This station seemed to be clear and the tension she was feeling eased slightly. To her left, she spied the exit tunnel leading back to the outside. She walked down it, quietly. As she stepped out into it, she heard a faint buzz. To her left, was another Nuka-Cola machine. Excitedly, she stepped over to the machine and opened it up. Only two bottles were sitting inside of the machine. Her heart sank a little, as she was hoping for more, but she grabbed the two bottles all the same. She flipped open the flap of her new found bag and put the bottles inside. After putting them in, Suri saw that there was still room for more bottles. She suddenly remembering the two in her pockets. She quickly looked down into her pockets. She'd forgotten all about the bottles. Somehow, but some miracle, neither of the bottles had broken during the commotion.

She took them out of the pockets and transferred them to the bag. They all fit in their just right, in a nice and even row. She closed the flap and continued to the exit. She left the metro station and shielded her eyes at the sudden sunlight. She continued upward towards the street level. Down the street, she saw a large, square structure sitting atop staircase. She could only faintly make it out, but there appeared to be a large statue of a sitting man past the row of columns lining the building's entrance. Somehow, this building seemed oddly familiar. It was on the tip of her memory. She could swear she had seen before. Before all of this happened and she had to leave Vault 101. But she just couldn't place it. Perhaps, if she went and saw it up close, she would discover what about it she recognized. Before continuing on, she looked back at the stairs leading down to the metro station. She turned back, moving towards the white building, thinking she would stick to traveling above ground from now on.

She finally made her way to the building. Suri leaned her head back to look up at the top of the structure. Like most places she had discovered in the wasteland, it seemed so much larger up close. She made her way up the steps quickly and moving past the giant columns. As she moved past them, she was graced with the full view of the statue inside. As she looked over the stone man sitting before her, it dawned on her as to why it looked so familiar. Her mind traced back to her time in Vault 101, in Mr. Brotch's class when he was teaching them pre-war history. She was looking at the Lincoln Memorial. Suri never figured she would see it with her own eyes. She was amazed to say the least. But her awe now seemed secondary. She'd never thought about missing sitting in the classroom. She sat down on the steps. She sighed, burying her head in her hands.

She didn't know how she ended up like this. She wasn't happy in the vault, but it felt familiar. That was enough sometimes. There was no one she knew here. Everyone was a stranger. She wasn't sure of who she could trust. Suri sat alone, her head hidden in her hands, wishing she could be back in Vault 101 only to be turned away by the reality that she can never go back.


End file.
